Rocking up early to the Tate Britain on a sunny Tuesday morning was not a bad way to start a day. Having a brief out of hours tour through the gallery to sort out a shoot location was one of the many privileges that make me really appreciate my job. The large galleries, home to some of the oldest and most impressive artworks in London, were eerily quiet save for the tip-tapping of our footsteps on the polished floor as we passed through. It still felt like a place in which you shouldn’t raise your voice even though no one else was there to listen.
My subject for the shoot was Turner prize nominee Michael Dean who hails from the North East of England. Though quiet in persona, we did chat a little throughout (mainly about how massive it is to have your work shown in the Tate) but with the installation of his work occurring in one of the galleries, I could tell he was keen to get back to overseeing the process and didn’t want to keep him for too long. We made use of the late summer heatwave with a shot outside and then based ourselves in the grand entrance hall for the remainder. The Turner prize winner is announced next month and the exhibition of nominees is open now.